Arms race: South Korea mulls nuclear arms as tensions soar

As nuclear-armed North Korea’s missile stand-off with the US escalates, calls are mounting within the South for Seoul to construct nuclear weapons of its personal to defend itself — which might complicate the scenario even additional.

The South, which hosts 28,500 US troops to defend it from the North, is banned from constructing its personal nuclear weapons beneath a 1974 atomic vitality deal it signed with the US, which as an alternative presents a “nuclear umbrella” in opposition to potential assaults.

But with Pyongyang frequently threatening to show Seoul right into a “sea of flames” — and nagging questions over Washington’s willingness to defend it if doing so put its personal cities at risk of retaliatory assaults — the South’s media are main requires a change of tack.

South Korea, which fought a battle with the North that led to a stalemate in 1953, is extremely technologically superior and analysts estimate it might develop an atomic gadget inside months of deciding to take action.

“Now is time to start reviewing nuclear armament,” the Korea Herald mentioned in an editorial Friday.

After Pyongyang carried out two profitable exams of an intercontinental ballistic missile final month, placing a lot of the mainland United States inside attain, the paper warned: “Trust in the nuclear umbrella the US provides to the South can be shaken.”

It urged Washington to deploy a few of its atomic weapons to South Korea if it didn’t need to see a nuclear-armed Seoul.

The US stationed a few of its atomic weapons within the South following the 1950-53 Korean War, however withdrew them in 1991 when two Koreas collectively declared they’d make the peninsula nuclear-free.

But Pyongyang carried out its first nuclear take a look at in 2006, and formally deserted the deal in 2009.

Tensions have soared in latest months with US President Donald Trump this week warning of “fire and fury” in opposition to Pyongyang, which threatened missile strikes close to the US territory of Guam.

The North’s army chief Ri Myong Su responded saying that if the US continued in its “reckless” behaviour, Pyongyang would “inflict the most miserable and merciless punishment upon all the provokers”.

The newest confrontation between Trump and the North — dominated by younger chief Kim Jong-Un — unnerved many within the South, despite the fact that it has change into largely used to hostile rhetoric from its neighbour.

A battle between the North and the US might have devastating penalties for Asia’s fourth-largest financial system, with Seoul inside vary of Pyongyang’s huge standard artillery forces.

“A catastrophe is looming,” the South’s top-selling Chosun each day mentioned in an editorial this week.

“All options, even those considered unthinkable so far, must be on the table.”

– ‘Balance of terror’ –

In all of the North has staged 5 atomic exams — together with three beneath Kim — as it seeks to develop a nuclear-tipped missile able to hitting the continental US.

A survey final yr — even earlier than tensions reached a crescendo — confirmed about 57 % of South Koreans supported the thought of nuclear armament, with 31 % opposing it.

“We need to have our own military options to overwhelm the North,” the Korea Economic Daily mentioned in an editorial this week, calling for a nuclear weapon to make sure a “balance of terror” and forestall Pyongyang from attacking the South.

But a South Korean bomb would infuriate Pyongyang, which says it wants nuclear weapons to defend itself in opposition to the specter of invasion, and make bringing it to the negotiating desk even tougher.

“The so-called ‘balance of terror’ would only turn the Korean peninsula into the hotbed of a nuclear arms race, not a peaceful peninsula,” mentioned Yang Moo-Jin, professor on the University of North Korea Studies in Seoul.

It might additionally set off a “nuclear domino” in Asia, pushing others such as Tokyo and Taipei to hunt their very own arsenals, he added.

“Japan in particular would welcome it with open arms, because it provides a perfect excuse to revise its pacifist constitution and build its own nuclear weapons for ‘self-defence’,” he mentioned.

Seoul’s defence chief Song Young-Moo mentioned not too long ago the South was “fully capable” of constructing its personal nuclear weapon however was not contemplating the choice for now.

Atomic arms are usually not the one means Seoul can step up its defences.

Song is pushing for the event of nuclear-powered submarines, though doing so additionally requires consent from the US.

South Korean President Moon Jae-In has additionally urged limits on Seoul’s missiles to be loosened in a dialog with Trump.

At current, Seoul is allowed to own ballistic missiles with a variety of 800 kilometres and payload of 500 kilogrammes. It needs the burden restrict raised to 1,000 kilogrammes, and the Pentagon mentioned Monday it was “actively” contemplating the revision.(AFP)

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